Fossil Footprint Nebula

NGC 1491, also known as the Fossil Footprint Nebula (and other designations: SH2-206 and LBN 70), is an emission type bright nebula located approximately 10,700 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Perseus. Hot stars ionize the surrounding gas, causing it to glow in visible light. These stars, such as the blue 11.22 magnitude star BD+50 866, emit copious amounts of ultraviolet radiation, which ionizes the hydrogen gas forming the nebula. This hot star is also creating a bubble in the gas that immediately surrounds it.

NGC 1491 - Celestron EdgeHD 11"; ZWO ASI2600mm, Nov 3-8, 2023
Total integration time: 16.5 hours

This image was acquired over a six night period: November 3 through November 8, 2023. It was processed in the standard Hubble Palette with RGB stars added in. Longer sub exposure times would probably have brought in more of the subtle O3 and S2 signal, so this is definitely a subject for another try in the future. The image above is a 50% crop of the original wider field (below) which shows the expansive gas cloud, albeit quite dim.